I think we have to come to the conclusion that Victor is actually a sophisticated computer program that is used in a turing-test like experiment!

His posts appear to be randomly generated words, even in Spanish his texts lack proper structure and cohesion.

Random words would probably make more scientific sense. LOL.

Perhaps his native language is something else and so both his English and Spanish are "Bablefished"?

It has occured to me that Victor might be the sockpuppet of another member here who is using it as a "tarbaby" trying to provoke arguement...

I know I am late with this virtual Halloween nightmare this year but maybe those mathematical theories that suggest we are more likely to be in a computer simulation than base level reality if there is such a thing are true. And Dan, V.E.E.G. and astronautdoc-1 are the agents. Here to make sure we pass the machine equivalent of the Turing test and if we fail we get put in the discarded Duracell battery pile for recycling

For my part I think astronautdoc-1 is trolling for some reason so I think we can assign him as Mr Brown and that leaves Dan and V.E.E.G to battle it out for the Smith and Jones positions. My money is on Dan by a nose as I think he may really believes a lot of what he posts whereas I am not quite so sure about V.E.E.G. despite all the effort that goes into the graphics.

Mind you I could be wrong as on a bad day I think I too would fail the Turing test. Tho it was revealed on last weeks Museum of curiosity that a University Professor has failed the Turing test 5 times out of 6 and the 6th the person was unsure so I could be with good or bad company depending on how you look at it. This weeks Museum of curiosity has the last David Frost appearance for those interested. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03g9b1f

PS Agents Dan, V.E.E.G. and astronautdoc-1 the reason i am celebrating Halloween now is that the Master program is getting senile and has forgotten to put the clocks forward for the last 144 years due to the wrong kind of falling leaf.

_________________Someone has to tilt at windmills.So that we know what to do when the real giants come!!!!

Anyone have any opinions on the point of the Turing test? I.e., is anyone of the opinion that the appearance of sentience is actual sentience?

Programatically and logically it is not the same. It is relatively straight forward to create a superficial facsimile (parroting, and even emotional state) and even defeat turing tests, especially if they are of narrow scope. But in the actual point of sentience, IOTW "self awareness" and abstract thought, is a whole different level. Cats, dogs, even higher primates that can be taught sign language, can be very intelligent, but they do not possess (or at least can't articulate) actual sentience. It's not so much in the end output, but in the process of deriving it.

I'm sure someone at somepoint will throw enough computing power to create a true AI, either by creating a high fidelity simulation of a neuron based brain, or by something else reaching a critical threshold ("Skynet"). This IMO is a shame and largely a waste of effort. There are billions of self-aware computers on this planet already, most of which are underutilized.

Anyone have any opinions on the point of the Turing test? I.e., is anyone of the opinion that the appearance of sentience is actual sentience?

Programatically and logically it is not the same. It is relatively straight forward to create a superficial facsimile (parroting, and even emotional state) and even defeat turing tests, especially if they are of narrow scope. But in the actual point of sentience, IOTW "self awareness" and abstract thought, is a whole different level. Cats, dogs, even higher primates that can be taught sign language, can be very intelligent, but they do not possess (or at least can't articulate) actual sentience. It's not so much in the end output, but in the process of deriving it.

I'm sure someone at somepoint will throw enough computing power to create a true AI, either by creating a high fidelity simulation of a neuron based brain, or by something else reaching a critical threshold ("Skynet"). This IMO is a shame and largely a waste of effort. There are billions of self-aware computers on this planet already, most of which are underutilized.

The Logic is used around the world to study and learn what they don't know. And only a computer understands programming.